Ethnobotanical and Ethnopharmaceutical Studies on Medicinal Plants of Chifra District, Afar Region, North Eastern Ethiopia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERISITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES ETHNOBOTANICAL AND ETHNOPHARMACEUTICAL STUDIES ON MEDICINAL PLANTS OF CHIFRA DISTRICT, AFAR REGION, NORTH EASTERN ETHIOPIA A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Science in Pharmaceutics By Tesfaye Seifu (B.pharm.) January 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Above all, I would like to thank my Lord and Savoiur Jesus Christ for His infinite grant throughout my life. Also thanks be to Saint Virgin Mary, Saint Urael and Saint Gabriel for their prayer towards me. I’m greatly indebted to my advisors Prof. Tsige Gebre-Mariam and Dr. Kaleab Asres for their incalculable advises guidances, devoted assistance and encouragements throughout my stay in the School. The encouragements I got from Ato Awell Wagris, Ato Sedik Mohammed, Ato Musa Ali and W/t Kediga Ali are worth mentioned here. Also I’d like to thank my father Ato Seifu Sahle- Dingel, my mother, W/o Bire Asfaw, and my sister, W/t Helen Debebe, for their moral support during my study. This work wouldn’t be possible without the participation of traditional healers of Chifra District, staff of Chifra Health Centre, Chifra Woreda Economic Development Office, Afar National Regional State Health Bureau, School of Pharmacy and that of Ato Melaku Wondafrash. So, I’m thankful to all of them. Last but not least is my appreciation to the Afar National Regional State Health Bureau and Addis Ababa University for sponsoring my study and funding my research work, respectively. i TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii LIST OF APPENDICES viii ACRONYMS ix ABSTRACT x 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Traditional medicine 2 1.1.1 History of traditional medicine 2 1.1.2 Global perspective of traditional medicine 4 1.1.3 Traditional medicine in Ethiopia 6 1.2 Study of medicinal plants: Ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology 12 1.2.1 Importance of Ethnobotany 12 1.2.2 Ethnopharmacology in drug discovery 14 1.3 Objectives of the present study 19 2. METHODS 20 2.1 Description of the study area 21 2.2 Selection of the district and rural communities 24 2.3 Selection of informants 24 ii 2.4 Ethnobotanical data collection 25 2.5 Analysis of ethnobotanical data 26 3. RESULTS 27 3.1 Socio demographic characteristics of respondents 28 3.2 Source of healing wisdom and experience of traditional medicine practitioners 28 3.3 Ailments treated by the healers 30 3.4 Plant Collection 31 3.5 Plant part(s) used 32 3.6 Plants and their claimed medicinal use 32 3.7 Ethnoformulations and dosage forms 33 3.7.1 Solvents and additives 33 3.7.2 Combination of herbal drugs 35 3.7.3 Unit processes employed in the ethnoformulations 37 3.8 Routes of administration 37 3.9 Dosage 38 3.10 Precautions, contraindications and side effects 39 3.11 Drug interactions 40 3.12 Storage and stability of herbal drugs 40 3.13 Informant’s consensus 40 4. DISCUSSION 44 4.1 Socio demographic characteristics of respondents 45 4.2 Source of healing wisdom and experience of traditional medicine Practitioners 45 iii 4.3 Ailments treated by traditional medicine practitioners 46 4.4 Collection of medicinal plants 46 4.5 Plant part (s) used 49 4.6 Ethnoformulations and dosage forms 49 4.6.1 Solvents and additives 49 4.6.2 Combination of herbal drugs 50 4.6.3 Unit processes 51 4.6.4 Dosage Forms 51 4.7 Routes of administration 52 4.8 Dosage 52 4.9 Contraindications, precautions, side effects 53 4.10 Drug interactions 53 4.11 Informants consensus and claimed activities 54 4.11.1 . Medicinal plants used for malaria 55 4.11.2. Medicinal plants used for infectious diseases diseases (other than malaria) and wound healing 58 4.11.3. Medicinal plants used for livestock diseases 62 4.11.4. Medicinal plants used for arthritis and inflammatory disorders 70 4.11 .5. Medicinal plants used for snakebite 74 4.11.6. Medicinal plants used for Urribaqla 75 4.11 .7. Medicinal plants used for gastrointestinal disorders 77 iv 4.11.8 Medicinal plants used for impotence 77 5. CONCLUSION 79 6. RECOMMENDATIONS 81 REFERENCES 82 APPENDICES 99 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1: Ten leading causes of outpatient visit in Chifra Health Center (2001/2002) 24 Table 3.1: Sociodemographic characterstics of traditional medicine practitioners (n=29) of Chifra District, 2002/2003. 29 Table 3.2: Common ailments treated by traditional medicine practitioners (n=29) of Chifra District, Afar. (2002/2003) 31 Table 3.3: Solvents and additives used in ethnoformulations of traditional healers of Afar people: Chifra District, (2002/2003). 33 Table 3.4: Combined herbal drugs and the corresponding indications as reported by traditional medicine practitioners of Afar people: Chifra District,2002/2003. 36 Table 3.5: The 12 commonly used plants in traditional medicine of Afar people: Chifra District and their uses, (2002/2003). 42 Table 3.6: Number of species used, use report, factor of informant's consensus of ethnomedical categories of Chifra District: Afar, (2002/2003). 43 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig.2.1: Map of the Afar National Regional State 22 Fig.3.1: Sources of healing wisdom of traditional healers (n=29) of Chifra District, Afar (2002/2003). 30 Fig.3.2: Plant part(s) used by Afar traditional healers in Chifra District for the treatment of human and animal ailments. 32 Fig.3.3: Herbal dosage forms prepared by traditional healers of Afar people: Chifra District, 2002/2003 33 Fig.3.4: Unit processes employed in the ethnoformulations of herbal drugs used by traditional medicine practitioners of Afar people: Chifra District, (2002/2003). 37 Fig.3.5: Routes of administration of ethnoformulations (n=154) of herbal drugs used by TMPs in Chifra District, Afar, (2002/2003). 38 Fig.4.1: Photograph of Balanites rotundifolia 56 Fig.4.2 : Photograph of Moringa oleifera 57 Fig.4.3: Photograph of Acacia nilotica 59 Fig.4.4: Photograph of Calotropis procera 63 Fig.4.5: Phtograph of Balanites aegyptiaca 68 Fig.4.6: Specimen of Aerva javanica 70 Fig.4.7: Phtograph of Withania somnifera 72 Fig.4.8: Specimen of Indigofera sp. 74 Fig.4.9: Specimen of Senna italica 75 Fig.4.10: Photograph of Trigonella foenum graecum L 76 vii LIST OF APPENDICES Page APPENDIX 1. Name, age, sex, years of experience, occupation and address of informants 99 APPENDIX 2. Vernacular names, scientific names, family, part(s) used, claimed medicinal use, routes of administration and ethnoformulations and applications of medicinal plants used by traditional healers of Afar people: Chifra District for treatment of human disorders 100 APPENDIX 3. Vernacular names, scientific names, family, part(s) used, claimed medicinal use, routes of administration and ethnoformulations and applications of medicinal plants used by traditional healers of Afar people: Chifra District for treatment of livestock disorders 118 APPENDIX 4 . Vernacular name, scientific name, family and collection number of medicinal plants collected from Chifra District, Afar Region 122 APPENDIX 5. Some medicinal plants of Ethiopia claimed to have antimalarial activity 125 APPENDIX 6. Questionnaire for healers of Chifra District to collect ethnobotanical and ethnopharmaceutical data 127 viii ACRONYMS WHO -World Health Organization TM-Traditional medicine TMPs-Traditional medicine practitioners HIV-Human Immunodeficiency Virus MOH -Ministry of Health ix Abstract Medicinal plants have not been well studied, tested or documented in Afar region, North Eastern Ethiopia. Most of the information is still in the hands of the traditional healers. A study was carried out during Nov.2002 – May 2003 to explore ethnobotanical information on the use of medicinal plants by Afar people in 13 rural communities of Chifra District, Afar Region, North Eastern Ethiopia. Based on the information found from ethnic leaders, 29 traditional medicine practitioners were interviewed by using pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. A total of 70 plant species were reported for their medicinal use in the district. Of these, 33 were fully identified by their botanical name, 10 at generic level and 27 couldn’t be identified and were recorded only by their vernacular names. 15% of the identified species belong to the family Fabaceae. Among 144 ethnoformulations reported, the majority were liquid preparations followed by unprocessed herbs and powder. The most widely used solvent to prepare the formulations was water. Size reduction, extraction and filtration were the most commonly employed unit processes in the formulation. Intranasal route of administration was frequently used next to oral route. Polyherbal preparations were common in order to have synergistic or summation effect. Although there is difficulty of determining accurate dose, the practitioners have an idea of dose and frequency of herbal preparations. Side effects are reported only for Aloe sp in therapeutic dose. Most of the oral herbal drugs are contraindicated for pregnant women. The practitioners have no idea of drug interactions and shelf life of the reported plant species. The data were analyzed using the concept of healer consent in order to identify culturally important medicinal plants. The medicinal uses of the plants were grouped into 9 disorder categories to have the factor of informant’s consensus (Fic) for each group. Accordingly, snakebite had the highest value (0.53) indicating the dependence of the practitioners on certain plants for the indication. The most frequently x recorded medicinal plants of the Afar people were Aloe sp. used for the treatment of “Urribaqla”, malaria, abdominal cramp, TB and pasterlosis; Acalypha sp. for snakebite, blackleg, anthrax, “Barelitta”and impotence. The medicinal plants were assessed using published phytochemical and pharmacological data.